One in five working Brits have no pension savings, according to new poll

Nathan Sandhu

Britain's looming pensions' crisis has been highlighted by new research which shows that a staggering one in five working Brits have no pension savings at all.

Of those who have saved for their retirement, only a quarter know how much they are saving each month with another one in four not knowing how much they have already saved.

A survey of 2,000 workers also reveals that 80% have no idea how much they will need for a comfortable retirement with the remaining 20% guessing they will need £275,000.

The survey also discovered that the average person didn't start paying into a pension until they were 27.

Around 5% avoid or unable to make any payments until they are in their 40s.

Two thirds of workers couldn't even guess how much state pension they might get and 40% didn't know at what age they'd become eligible.

However the majority of Brits were hoping to retire by the age of 65.

But one glimmer of hope thrown up by the survey was that the young generation are more savvy that their parents when it comes to thinking about their retirement.

The average millennial began paying into their pension at age 23 whereas the over 55s admitted leaving it until they were 30 years old.

Those working in law enforcement and security currently boast the biggest pensions pots, with £200,000, followed by those in transport and logistics (£123,169) and property and construction (£111,026).

Those putting aside the least include those in the media, marketing and information research.

And the job sectors with the most employees with pensions, include law enforcement (95%), science and pharmaceuticals (90%) and insurance (89%), while those in in environment and agriculture, are least likely to hold one. (54%)

The average Brit earns £31,493 and has £17,462 saved for their future but 8% have no money saved at all.

The poll comes just days after after an official review of the UK state pension scheme suggested the retirement age for men could rise to 68 by 2039.

The current pensionable age is 63 for women and 65 for men, rising to 65 for both by late 2018, 66 by 2020, and age 67 by 2028.

Catherine Bannan, HR Manager at Printerland.co.uk, which carried out the research, said: "It's worth remembering that by law, every employer needs to provide a Workplace Pension Scheme by 2018.

"As businesses, we need to ensure that we match the minimum percentage of our employees' 'qualifying earnings'.

"Employers also have an obligation to educate their employees on how the Workplace Pension Scheme operates, and how they can ensure they start futureproofing their retirement as soon as possible."